Agricultural Development Bank of China, a state-owned policy bank, said Friday its 2007 profits rose 69.6 percent year-on-year to 14.9 billion yuan (US$2.04 billion).

The bank's loan balance reached a record 1.02 trillion yuan by the end of last December, an increase of 138 billion yuan from a year ago, the bank said in a statement posted on its Web site.

The loans were given mainly to satisfy the government's capital demand for grain and cotton purchase, a move to encourage farmers to produce. The bank also provided support to infrastructure construction in rural areas, it said.

The bank was established in 1994 by the central government with a view of promoting rural and agricultural development. It currently has 2,000 branches in 30 Chinese provinces.

By the end of last year, its non-performing loan ratio was 6.29 percent, down 1.36 percentage points from a year ago.

(Xinhua News Agency January 5, 2008)